Emotions and the Policy Process: Enthusiasm, Anger, and Fear

Emotions affect how we think and behave and should be more widely integrated into theories and frameworks of the policy process. Current conceptualization and research on emotions in the policy process rely on dimensional valence-based models of emotions such as positive and negative affect and level of arousal. However, over the past twenty years, research from political psychology and other fields of study have found evidence that dimensional approaches have limited utility and that there are benefits of using theories that rely on discrete emotions. By incorporating theories, concepts and research on discrete emotions into theories and frameworks of the policy process, scholars can better understand how emotions motivate actors and to what effect. This paper discusses concepts and theories about emotions including cognitive appraisal, neuroscience process and function and Affective Intelligence Theory. It also discusses methodological strategies for studying emotions and the state of current research on the effects of fear, enthusiasm, and anger on how people engage the political world. The paper concludes by exploring how theories and frameworks of the policy process can integrate these three emotions to better understand the motivations and actions of policy actors and the public.